It was not meant to be a comment about the individual clubs, but about the process used by the RFL. Apologies to the fans of the individual clubs if taken that way.

New clubs entering the football league earn their place through playing through the non leagues. In RL, you simply apply to the RFL and through an opaque process you get to be a league team, in some cases a team that can attract only a hundred or so paying spectators.

Expansion, and the rate that it has taken place has been a disaster. It would be nice to know what the business plans of the expansion teams said about player recruitment, attendences etc.

Anita,

I cant speak for other clubs but North Wales Crusaders put together a business plan when the Crusaders super league team withdrew its licence application for SL. It was a plan put together by a group of supporters who wanted RL to remain in North Wales. the RFL rejected that plan and on their advice a new plan was devised to enter Championship One. We had to show we had the ground, support and infrastructure to compete at this level otherwise we would have been rejected. We have exceeded our projected attendance levels last season (highest in Championship 1), sold more than our expected season tickets last season and are on track to do the same this season. Every player in North Wales Crusaders has been sponsored this season and our club is sustainable i.e. operating within its means. If that applies to all the other expansion clubs I would say we have all earned our places in Championship 1.

Yes I would agree, and the Cru quite clearly are competitive both on and off the field at Ch 1 level. But please take a look at the attendences for the other games. Is it reasonable to assume that a business plan that said we expect to attract between 100 and 250 spectators (and I expect not all of those a paying full price) would be something the RFL would have approved?

Oh and its perhaps best not to metion some of those teams in the so called super league whose attendences hover around 2-3,000 despite all the media attention/promotion that SL gets. Was that part of their business plan?